Canon confirms discontinuation of EF and EF-S lenses

[PerKr]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR. That means no more EF mount bodies will be developed. There is no point in keeping the cheaper penta-mirror line. They will produce, and sell, these items as long as they make money off them but they will be gone. And they will be replaced with RF counterparts, if they are replaced at all; people are not as interested in ILC's now as they were 10 years ago.

 

[HMC11]

I'm a full time professional photographer. Canon's apparent abandonment of the EF mount is in my view premature.
I always been an early adopter, and was one of the first to jump on the EF system from the FD mount over 3 decades ago.

Problem is that for my work, mirrorless is not ready yet. My workhorse is the 5D Mk4. I have the R5 and hate it. Cannot stand it. It is too small, it eats batteries like chocolate cake and it simply doesn't give me any advantages over the 5D Mk4 in my line of work. The R5 will be a great travel camera though.

Lenses are also lacking. I much much prefer the 100EF macro over the RF100 macro. Again it has features that are superfluous for my needs, while making it unnecessarily heavy, and expensive, while distance between front lens and subject as close focus distance is worse on the new lens.

I just bought the RF 14-35mm L. It has shocking barrel distortion. I read that DPP will correct this, but DPP will not install on MacOS for a reason, and is a common issue I found out.

Agree. I think the EF system is still very useable, and in cases like yours, is actually preferred. However, Canon is most likely making a business decision to stop the EF (eventually) and focus on the RF. As for the EF-M, my wish is for an M5markII on a similar level as the M6markII. That does not seem to be happening, and again it is probably a profit/margin decision. Given that there are new third party M lenses (eg. Sigma in 2020, Samyang etc), it seems that M mount may yet have some years of life left, unless the R mount can match the size and weight of the M mount camera (and lenses).

Can you share your experience with the RF 14-35? I just got mine and am pretty happy with it thus far in terms of sharpness, colour and rendering, psychologically treating it essentially as a 16-35mm lens, with the bonus of 14-15mm that are still very good but need heavy corrections.

 

[sanj]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR. That means no more EF mount bodies will be developed. There is no point in keeping the cheaper penta-mirror line. They will produce, and sell, these items as long as they make money off them but they will be gone. And they will be replaced with RF counterparts, if they are replaced at all; people are not as interested in ILC's now as they were 10 years ago.

Agree. Obvious this is.

 

[hollybush]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR.

What was actually said in the original Japanese was that it was the last 1-series DSLR. And I think it only became the Mk III because the Mk II used an orphaned memory card standard.

Nothing was said about the more mainstream 5-series either way. Reading the tea leaves, I would not be surprised if the Mk IV was the last, but nothing was said.

The modern 1-series is far more appropriate to be replaced by mirrorless because of the kind of action photography it is mostly used for.

 

[TMHKR]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR.

Wrong, they confirmed it will be their last DSLR in the 1D line, not the last DSLR in general.

 

[Richard CR]

Can you link the Petepixel article directly?
The link in the OP only goes to the wrong article
(https://petapixel.com/2022/02/11/study-reveals-the-most-complained-about-cameras-in-the-world/)
and you have to hunt for the specific article.
https://petapixel.com/2022/02/11/canon-has-discontinued-all-but-nine-ef-prime-lenses-report/

Can you also share the Canon Japan discontinued lens list URL?

whoops!
thanks for the catch. that was an article i was going to write up, clipboard caught up to me.

 

[Richard CR]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR.

No they didn't. They just stated that the 1DX Mark III would be the last 1 series DLSR.

 

[neuroanatomist]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR.

it’s usually best to read more than just the title of an article. If you fail to do that, you often end up looking rather foolish.

Agree. Obvious this is.

Of course, when you make a foolish and factually incorrect statement, some people will agree with you quite readily.

 

[Blue Zurich]

Just before the new year, a canon executive confirmed that the 1Dx mkIII was the last carnon DSLR. That means no more EF mount bodies will be developed. There is no point in keeping the cheaper penta-mirror line. They will produce, and sell, these items as long as they make money off them but they will be gone. And they will be replaced with RF counterparts, if they are replaced at all; people are not as interested in ILC's now as they were 10 years ago.

This is false. it was stated it would be the end of the 1D line....oh look, I'm not the first to jump all over that 'only read the headline' mess.

 

[entoman]

What was actually said in the original Japanese was that it was the last 1-series DSLR. And I think it only became the Mk III because the Mk II used an orphaned memory card standard.

Nothing was said about the more mainstream 5-series either way. Reading the tea leaves, I would not be surprised if the Mk IV was the last, but nothing was said.

The modern 1-series is far more appropriate to be replaced by mirrorless because of the kind of action photography it is mostly used for.

My opinion:

M series is here to stay for at least 2-3 years. Possibly a new body will come, but it'll be an incremental upgrade rather than anything radical.

Budget APS-C (Rebel) DSLRs will also stay for at least 3 years, as they are much cheaper to produce than RF models, and will feed economy buyers into the Canon system. Most likely there will be a new model, but again, nothing radical.

Mid-range DSLRs such as 90D and 5DMkiv are probably still in production as there is still enough demand, but they'll probably be phased out in the next couple of years.

1Dxiii will continue to be made until demand for it disappears. Canon's claim that the 1Dxiii is still the current flagship is designed purely to calm recent buyers who might be upset that the R3 is better and cheaper. The R3 is hugely superior in almost every regard, it's the top model in the Canon range, and therefore it's the current flagship. It will considerably outsell the Nikon Z9 and the Sony A1, despite them being arguably better specified.

The "R1" is at least a year away.

Next RF camera will be the "R7" which will probably be a mirrorless 90D, with animal-eye AF and 20fps.

 

[Bonich]

Canon no longer manufactures the TS-E lenses, though some are new (5yo), and only two are even rumored to be replaced?

I can see Canon reusing the optical formula with new body & electronics, but I'd expect a rumor saying Canon is going to release the whole bunch in TS-R.

Please use the link and look up the list:
- all TS-E still in production
- MP-E still in production
- 100mm IS Macro still in production

 

[Bonich]

Where is the 135mm rf replacement?

Zeiss Milvus

 

[unfocused]

Since I’ve now sold my DSLRs and never owned an M this doesn’t really affect me, but I am interested in future RF lenses and I suspect that if a lens has been dropped from the EF or EF-s systems one should not hold out a lot of hope that it will appear in future RF lens roadmaps.

 

[EOS 4 Life]

They still have the TS-E17, 24, 50, 90 and 135mm in production.

it's the older ones that were discontinued.

Not according to this BS list of all but nine lenses being discontinued

 

[EOS 4 Life]

according to Japan: https://cweb.canon.jp/ef/lineup/

I'll put that in the article though.

The entire list of every officially discontinued lens is right there.
There is no need for any speculation:

生産を終了した商品　EF LENS ：レンズ交換式カメラ・レンズ

一眼レフ用交換レンズの販売終了した旧製品の一覧です。機種仕様と対応オプション品についてご確認いただけます。

cweb.canon.jp

 

[Richard CR]

Not according to this BS list of all but nine lenses being discontinued

Those TS-E's mentioned are certainly not discontinued. and there are more than 9 lenses available. there are 12 EF Zooms, 9 primes, 1 macro, 5 TS-E's, 6 EF-S, and 7 EF-M's.

The entire list of every officially discontinued lens is right there.
There is no need for any speculation:

That was kind of the gist of the article my friend.

 

[Pixel]

I'm a full time professional photographer. Canon's apparent abandonment of the EF mount is in my view premature.
I always been an early adopter, and was one of the first to jump on the EF system from the FD mount over 3 decades ago.

Problem is that for my work, mirrorless is not ready yet. My workhorse is the 5D Mk4. I have the R5 and hate it. Cannot stand it. It is too small, it eats batteries like chocolate cake and it simply doesn't give me any advantages over the 5D Mk4 in my line of work. The R5 will be a great travel camera though.

Lenses are also lacking. I much much prefer the 100EF macro over the RF100 macro. Again it has features that are superfluous for my needs, while making it unnecessarily heavy, and expensive, while distance between front lens and subject as close focus distance is worse on the new lens.

I just bought the RF 14-35mm L. It has shocking barrel distortion. I read that DPP will correct this, but DPP will not install on MacOS for a reason, and is a common issue I found out.

What Mac OS are you on? DPP works just fine on my Mac and my computer is as new as you can get.
To say "lenses are lacking" is a bit premature. The EF line had decades to build up, it'll get there. The EF to RF adaptor, that offers native adaption, is a fine solution.
Can you say what type of photography you do and how the R5 specifically doesn't work for your application?

 

[melgross]

hope for what though? it's never going to be like a fuji mount where they create professional grade lenses for it. it's a mirrorless rebel system.

While I would love a 15-50mm F2.8 for it, maybe one day Sigma will put the EOS-M mount on theirs.

While sales and profit are driving factors, so is marketshare and Canon cares a lot about that.

Your post makes it sound like they have discontinued it - they haven't.

I don’t understand what’s wrong with it not being a “professional“ system. Does everything have to be upgradable to professional? It’s done very well in the markets it’s been in. That’s despite the lack of “pro” level lenses. While I don’t have one, I know a couple of people who do, and they’re very happy with them. Sure, I suppose three, or so, more lenses would have been nice, but most people with these aren’t really interested.

I think it would be a shame if Canon discontinued them.

 

[danfaz]

Considering the EF version was released in 1996 and wasn't updated in over 25 years I suspect it wasn't a big seller. Undoubtedly loved by those who owned it if it doesn't make money it isn't going to get any kind of priority.

It wasn't updated because there was really no need to. There was no Mark II EF 50 1.2 either, but now we have an updated RF version. A 135 f/1.4 is on the RF lens roadmap.

 

[privatebydesign]

It wasn't updated because there was really no need to. There was no Mark II EF 50 1.2 either, but now we have an updated RF version. A 135 f/1.4 is on the RF lens roadmap.

Need and money making rarely go hand in hand. If the 135 f2 had been a big seller there is every reason to think there would have been iterations just as there were with the superteles, the 2.8 zooms, the 85 f1.2, the 35 f1.4, the TS-E's, etc etc.